Challenge Fund - World of Work

The funding programme Challenge Fund - World of Work aims to support UK-German school partnerships undertaking work experience or enterprise-related project activities.

Please note that work experience activities must be firmly embedded within a wider and thematic group project. Funding is not available for individual work experience placements where there is no bilateral project or group work.

Please note: a new funding package will be available in 2018.

Further details will be announced here and through our communication channels shortly. If you have any urgent questions beforehand, please contact us at funding@ukgermanconnection.org or on 020 7824 1573.

What criteria does your project have to meet?

The work experience activities (if applicable) take place within the context of a UK-German school partnership where at least ten pupils from both schools are participating in trips to the other country involving both work experience activities and group project work.

The work experience (if applicable) is firmly embedded within a wider group project which involves real collaboration and joint working between the UK and German pupils before, during and after the visits.

The work experience activities (if applicable) are used by pupils to gather insight, experience and material to share and contribute towards their joint project e.g. through reflective journals, interviews or surveys with their co-workers. Suitable themes for joint project work could be topics such as international business, cross-cultural skills, education and culture or entrepreneurship and many more.

The two visits and group project work should lead to a final concrete outcome created and decided upon by the group, such as a joint magazine, blog, materials or creative video.

Work experience trips should take place in both directions within an 8-12 month period. Pupils should work together on their joint project before, during, and after work experience visits.

The work experience should be at least 2-3 days in duration on each visit. The group project work during each trip should also comprise of at least 2 days of interactive activity on each trip. This can be split into morning and afternoon sessions, if easier.

A language-learning element is welcomed but not compulsory.

Funding is not available for individual work experience placements where there is no bilateral or group work

For a full list of criteria, please refer to the guidelines (see Files to download list on this page).

How much funding can you get and what can it be used for?

The maximum grant available is £5,000 and is to be shared between the participating schools.

Grants provided through the World of Work grant can support costs such as travel and accommodation for reciprocal partner visits, project resources and joint activities and will be a contribution to the overall costs.

Applicants must contribute at least 25% of the overall eligible activity costs through participants’ contributions and other sources of funding.

When should you apply for the grant?

Before completing parts 1 & 2 of the application forms, please familiarise yourself with the programme guidelines (see Files to download list on this page).

There are three deadlines each year: 31 January, 31 May, and 31 October. See the box at the top of this page for the next deadline.

Proposed project activities cannot start until at least six weeks after the funding deadline to allow the required administrative and processing time. For example, an application for a project starting in February would need to be submitted for the previous October deadline.

How can you apply for the grant?

Your full application should include the following:

Part 1: Grant specific project description

Part 2: General funding application form for schools

draft programmes

financial plan (if not included in the general funding application form)

Download and complete the forms (see Files to download list on this page) and submit them electronically to funding@ukgermanconnection.org.

Please ensure that the forms you complete are the most up-to-date versions, which are available to download on this page.

Paper copies of parts 2.6 and 2.7 of the general funding application form, including original signatures from all participating groups, must be sent by post to:

Please note that Challenge Fund - World of Work applications can only be submitted by one participating institution on behalf of the whole project. This can be either the German or British institution. The corresponding information for your German partners is available under Challenge Fund - World of Work on the German section of our website.

If you have any questions about the programme or would like to discuss your plans, please contact us at funding@ukgermanconnection.org.